Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is getting dusted in the polls, and his brother, George W., is nowhere to be found. Talking Points Memo noted how Bush’s silence and invisibility is unusual for former presidents and that it may be because his tenure was disaster and the GOP wants to forget about it.
George’s silence and invisibility is indicative of a larger mission being implemented by the GOP, reported TPM. During major election cycles, the Republicans don’t “trot out” legacy members of its party, but rather talk about how great Ronald Reagan was. The Democrats, however, still have Al Gore and Bill Clinton to come out and work with the party during elections. President Obama is believed to be one of those Democrats to stay involved.
The Republicans are so quick to dismiss members of their own party because they create too much controversy, they’re too crazy, and they cause too many disasters. No one is going to ask the like of Dubya or Ted Cruz to stay involved with the party establishment. Their policies or the politicians themselves are too disruptive.
Aurin Squire of TPM noted:
Unfortunately for the Republicans, Democrats and independents do have functioning memory cells. They can recall two disastrous wars, mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina, the war profiteering of Vice President Dick Cheney, rampant Wall Street deregulation, and huge tax cuts for the rich that helped the national debt to balloon out of control in tandem with defense spending.
Squire’s main point focuses on political memory. The Democrats and Independents remember the past disasters of America. Republicans, on the other hand, try to forget and force their constituency to focus on short-term, headline issues like immigration and abortion.
Because of the Republican tactic to cloud the narrative, we won’t be hearing from Dubya anytime soon.
